Pinned construction worker rescued in Plantation

Trapped under Sheetrock on fifth floor

A 42-year-old construction worker was rescued after a stack of Sheetrock… (Joel Gordon, Plantation…)

January 18, 2013|By Wayne K. Roustan, Sun Sentinel

A 42-year-old construction worker was recovering in the hospital Friday after being pinned under a stack of Sheetrock at a job site, according to Plantation Fire Rescue.

It happened around 4:20 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Viera Condominiums at 599 American Expressway, which is under construction. The man is an employee of Banner Supply, the company providing Sheetrock for the project, Fire Rescue spokesman Joel Gordon said.

"He was up on the fifth floor pushing one of those Sheetrock carts when it tipped over," he said. "It dumped an estimated 1,500 pounds of Sheetrock on top of him [and] caught his lower body."

Co-workers were removing the Sheetrock from him as rescue crews arrived. After paramedics treated him at the site, firefighters used the Snorkel elevated platform truck with an articulating boom to lower the injured worker to the ground.

He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center where he was listed in serious condition with non life-threatening injuries, interim fire chief Laney Stearns said.